Sunday, December 09, 2012

Paid in Gold and Blood Chapters 1 & 2

Starting every Sunday and Wednesday, I'll be posting two chapters at a time of my upcoming fantasy novel. Please comment and let me know what you think. The novel will be released after it has been presented here.A former priest, having left his temple and much else behind, is caught in a web of dark magic when he finds the body of a young woman who has been ritually slain.

Chapter One

At Silver Pass the snow sat knee deep except where others had
trudged through and flattened it to mud and ice.The frigid wind swept over the white-capped
mountains and felt like the cold hand of death itself.Katashan pulled his heavy cloak closer to him
and tried not to feel the bone-aching chill.Emista himself, the old God of Ice, could still rule in a place like this
where summer probably never reached.

In a few more steps he topped the crest of the high mountain
pass and Katashan stopped and stared at the distant golden shore and sapphire
sea far below.He waited for a feeling
elation at seeing the end of his five month journey and the new future the distant
view promised.

Unfortunately, he'd already wearied of too many new beginnings
in his life.He couldn't look at the
sparkling sea and the land of Cyrenia and believe they promised him any better
life than what he'd already given up: the good and the bad, and all of it lost
to him now.

The windswept silence suddenly filled with the bray of donkeys
and the inharmonious yell of the caravan master.The rest of Katashan's traveling companions
would soon make their way up the trail to this final pass along the Old Iron
Road.Tyren, the shaggy, unkempt caravan
master, had a voice that could wake the dead.As far as Katashan could tell it had no effect whatsoever on either the
thirty donkeys or the half dozen workers in his employ.

Tyren had been an odd companion for someone who had spent a few
years serving in the temples of home.The caravan master believed in every omen and superstition, while at the
same time he cursed gods and men alike.It had made a very long, and loud, journey.

Tyren did have his virtues, though.The man knew every trail, village and ford
between Taris and Cyrenia.He also had
no problem taking hire from a northerner, even though Katashan might be
unpopular where they traveled.The war
between Cyrenia and Taris had ended only three short years before and trouble
still erupted along the border now and then.

Katashan had hurried ahead of the caravan to do more than gawk
at the welcoming sight of the Inner Sea.Stone-carved Verina Guardians -- waist high images of the kneeling
goddess -- stood sentinel at every important locality along the Iron Road.The statues represented an old religion now
in abeyance in the south since the old Taris Empire had long since fallen into
smaller, often warring, kingdoms.

Katashan hadn't realized he could feel any affection for the Gods
who had turned their backs on him when he needed them most.Yet the first time he had seen the kneeling
statue of Verina, protector of travelers, he'd felt an odd stirring in his
heart.During the long journey he had
stopped at every Verina statue and made a token offering of food or drink.He had served in her temple for a few years
when he was younger.Those days seemed
so long ago now, that it might have been another person who had prayed at the
altars and wished all travelers in the world peace and safety.

A shame those prayers had never been saved for himself.

Tyren and his men had scoffed at the superstitious northerner
at first, but as the journey progressed with few problems, he saw Tyren eyeing
the old goddess with some consideration.It amused Kastashan to think he may have helped to reintroduce a piece
of the old religion to counter the apostasy of the south, where the Cyrenian
monarchy had introduced new gods as soon as they broke allegiance with Taris.

"Up!Up ye' damned
beasts!" Tyren bellowed and the donkeys answered in much the same
tone.Soon the pack would catch up with
him.After so many months on the trail,
Katashan knew better than to waste the few precious moments he had to himself.

However, even knowing where to look, he still had trouble
finding the Verina Guardian for this pass.He had started to believe --being this close to the Cyrenian heartland
-- that it had been thrown down during the war.

He spotted the very top of the statue's head showing through a
snowdrift off to the right, farther from the trail than he had expected.By then he could also hear the plodding step
of the lead donkeys and knew he didn't have much time if he wanted a moment to
say his thanks in private for having had such a trouble free journey.

Getting to the statue wasn't easy this time, though as he
plowed through the snow, knee deep in many places and he tried not to curse as
he forced his way through the ice crusted snowdrifts.Katashan had always believed the Gods
listened at the worst of times, and he had already dared their ire too often in
the past to take a chance now.He even
bit back a curse when his foot caught on a snow covered limb that sent him
sprawling at the feet of the Guardian.

Katashan stood and quickly brushed snow from his pants and
cloak.Tyren had almost topped the rise,
all but dragging the lead donkey with him.He took the last step and reached out, brushing snow from the covered
statue --

The stone felt uncommonly warm, and should have melted the snow
for several feet around the shrine if this had been true warmth.What he felt was magic and that could not be
good.

"There you be," Tyren said from behind him."Why'd ya not take the cleared path to
your Guardian?Never struck me as a snow
lover."

Path?Katashan turned and
could clearly see the stone-lined trai a few steps to his left.He could not possibly have missed the path
before, except that the Goddess intended him to trample through the snow.

And even fall as he had.

She would not have done it on a whim.The Gods had never shown a taste for
burlesque before, though irony and farce seemed common enough.So why send --

"Damn," he whispered, despite himself.

Katashan quickly retraced the three steps back to where he had
fallen.He knelt, ignoring the cold, and
brushed snow away from the limb . . . and found frozen cloth beneath and then
fingers, blue as the ocean below.

"What norther ritual is it this time?" Tyren demanded
as the rest of the caravan began to move past, his men anxiously herding the
laden donkeys onward.

"Tether the animals and bring a blanket," Katashan
ordered.He looked up into Tyren's
scowling face."I've found a
body."

Chapter Two

Tyren stood close by shaking his head with his matted hair bouncing
from side-to-side.He snarled curses
barely loud enough to be heard as Katashan carefully brushed snow from the
body, uncovering an arm, a shoulder . . . a woman.Tyren would do nothing to help.Neither would his men, of course, though they
all gathered at the trail to watch and mumble about bad omens.

Katashan didn't feel better about the discovery than they
did.However he knew matters would be
far worse if he walked away from something the Goddess so obviously wanted him
to handle.

As he uncovered her -- a young woman, her golden hair shimmering
with ice crystals -- he noted her ankles had been bound in heavy chains and her
wrists tied behind her back with a silken rope.The frozen blue silk of her expensive dress showed no rips and he saw no
bruises on her ice pale skin.The woman
had come here without a battle, either willingly or drugged.

The blade that had killed her still rested hilt deep in her
breast where it had pushed through blue silk cloth and pierced her heart.There wasn't much blood staining the dress,
so she had died quickly and not been left to freeze to death.He couldn't guess how long ago this had
happened since the body showed no signs of decay.It wouldn't in this winter land, but he still
felt as though this had not been done more than a few months before.

The knife was no ordinary weapon; gemstones formed a spiral
pattern on the long jade hilt and he could see the edge of a design etched into
the silver of the blade itself. This looked like a very easy weapon to trace
and he mistrusted its presence for that very reason.No one would purposely leave such a clue
behind.

"What do ye plan to do with it?" Tyren demanded.

"Her," Katashan corrected as he stood.He pushed his half frozen fingers up under
his arms and looked at the trail where even the donkeys appeared anxious to go on.Contrary creatures."I suppose we ought to take her back to
the fort at the upper pass --"

"Ah, no." Tyren said with a shake of his shaggy head
as he glanced over his shoulder."Took us a full day ta' hike down ta' here.It would take two, maybe three goin' back up.
Times bad enough, but supplies are low."

"Excellent point," Katashan said."Is there some place closer?"

"Chances be she came from the mountain village there along
the trail," he said, pointing to where a path along the summit and leading
into the trees."Half a day.No way to take the caravan, but you could get
her there --"

"I don't think she's from the mountains," Katashan
reluctantly said."She's not
dressed for the cold.I think she must
have come from one of the shore villages.Are there many close by?"

"Two days ta' the closest," he said, and looked even
more unhappy."What would she be
doin' up here, so far from the shore?"

Katashan could see no way around the truth though he dreaded
making the situation worse.They would
have to know before they moved the body, though.

"Someone brought her here, bound in chains, and murdered
her."

Silence greeted those words. Tyren held his place but the rest
of his men had backed up a few steps, wrists crossed and palms held outward in
a sign to ward against evil.And they
were right because this had been evil.The woman had been murdered at the foot of a benevolent goddess, who
wished harm to no one.The act had
perverted the place.

"Want nothin' ta' do with this," Tyren said."This can't be good."

"No, this isn't good," Katashan agreed.He tried to warm his fingers again."But we cannot leave her here unless you
wish to risk the wrath of the Goddess."

Tyren glanced nervously at the still mostly-covered statue and
frowned in annoyance.However, having
spent so long with Tyren, Katashan knew the caravan master would not ignore
such a possibility.He was a
superstitious, though not truly religious, man.Katashan hated to use that ploy against him, but he would need help.

Just as he expected, Tyren muttered a curse or a prayer, and
stomped his way across the snow pack.He
stopped over the body, glaring though his look softened a moment later.

"Young," he said shaking his head."Not her fault.Damned fancy blade that killed her and she be
a shore dweller, it's true.It wouldn't
be right to take her elsewhere and we can't leave her here to upset your
Goddess.We'll take her down wrapped in
blankets and packed in snow.I'll make a
travois."

"Thank you."Katashan knelt and began to carefully brush more of the snow away from
around her."Someone is bound to
ask how we found her.I'm going to make
certain there are no clues nearby.I'll
move her when you're ready to leave."

Tyren looked relieved to find that Katashan would handle the
body.He nodded and went back to his
men, shouting orders and brooking no disagreement this time.Katashan did see him cast one plaintive look toward
the distant shore though; so close to the end of the journey to find trouble!

Katashan waited until everyone had gone out of sight to gather
wood for the travois.Then, his fingers tingling
as they moved along the frozen ground, he began to carefully brush the snow
away from around her body.

He found the first glyph to the left of her shoulder, almost
even with the blade in her heart.The
pattern had been carved into the dirt and filled with sand and the sand had
later fused to glass with the power of the spell. This had been a sacrifice, not just a murder, but
he had known that already.What he hadn't
been certain of, until he saw the first glyph, was if the person who had worked
the spell had known what he was doing.

"Goddess guide me," Katashan whispered.He swept his hand over the rest of the glyphs
to the left of the first quickly dislodging the snow.One glyph curled into another:Life, bondage, death.

He heard the tinkle of ice and the body twitched.

Katashan covered the glyphs over again, his heart thumping and
his hands almost aching with the cold and the power mixing in the touch.The body went still again but he could
already feel other forces beginning to gather.

For a brief moment he considered leaving her and reporting the
find to the first authorities they found.He didn't want to be involved in anything like this, not in a place so
far from his home and with no personal prestige to back him up if he ran into trouble.However, Verina had obviously brought him
here for a reason.Unlike any other
hapless traveler, he could read the glyphs and feel the magic all around him,
calling to the magic in his own blood.

Verina wanted this work undone and the taint removed from her
shrine.He could do it, though not all
the work today with people so close by.The first step would be to take the body away. He slowly stood, turned
his back to where the others still searched for suitable wood, and crossed back
to the statue.

After another glance to make certain no one stood too near, he
withdrew the small black handled knife he kept on a chain and always close to
his heart. The blessed silver blade held magic of its own; a dangerous relic of
his past, but one he could not part with since it would be far more dangerous
in the hands of anyone else.He
whispered the ritual, trusting the goddess would not fault him for being
discreet.

His hand didn't tremble as he made a small slit in his left wrist,
even though he had not done this act in many long years.The blood flowed quickly into her upheld hands,
forming a small puddle in the palms, bright red against the white of the
marble.He watched, silently praying and
hoping -- and starting to feel light headed --

The blood seeped into the stone and disappeared.Accepted.With a feeling of relief mixed with dread --
he didn't want to be involved with the Gods again -- he laid the silver blade
against the wound and quickly whispered words that seared the cut shut with a
sharp, hot pain.

He stumbled back to the body, almost grateful when he could
kneel again in the snow, even though he now had a new awareness of the delicate
magic all around the area.The power
tingled and stung like fire ants moving up his arms and he'd never felt
anything like it before.

Katashan could hear Tyren and his men coming back up the
incline from their foray into the woods.Katashan had no time for subtlety or to reacquaint himself with magic he
hadn't used in far too many years.He
wrapped both his hands around the knife that had killed the young woman and
whispered a quick incantation, dispelling as much of the ritual's power as he
could in one quick sweep as he pulled it out.

The magic to do the work came unexpectedly easily to him.Power fled from the blade in a flash of blue
light as he dropped it onto her chest.He
took his own ritual blade from around his neck -- still red with a little of
his own blood -- cut at the glyphs.The
magic dispelled so quickly it called a wind in the void and snow blew up from
the ground and flew around him, sending a chill through the world.

He looked up and saw an outline in the veil of white: a human
shape, reaching for him.

"Away!"He
held up his left hand, power flashing bright from his fingers as he ordered the
specter back.

The shape fled with a howl of wind and the sudden storm
disappeared as quickly as it had arisen.He could hear shouts of surprise and dismay from Tyren and his men who
likely felt the dark power in that wind even if they didn't understand the
implications.

However the danger had gone, though he couldn't say for how
long and the magic lessening.Katashan
picked up the body and carried her to the trail, anxious to be away from this
place, even though he took part of the trouble with him and feared more would
follow.

Pages

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